Morna Heights School Will Close

Morna Heights elementary school will close.

Education minister Dominic Cardy approved a recommendation from the Anglophone South district education council made at its February meeting.

Chair Rob Fowler said the school had about 72 students

Those students would now attend schools on Saint John’s west side like St. Rose and Island View.

Chair of the District Education Council, Rob Fowler, says Morna Heights had low enrollment and ageing infrastructure like many other schools.

It was the subject of three policy 409 reviews over the last decade.

“I know we looked at combining Inglewood, Grand Bay Primary and Morna in the last 409 and we did approve closure then contingent upon getting a new school. When we did that we were looking at 350 to 400 [students] and now we are looking at approximately 275 between the thre schools.” Fowler said.

Fowler said he learned of the decision last Friday.

He said Minister Cardy has been clear that his role isn’t to second-guess the decisions of the DEC but to ensure they follow procedure.

“The minister was absolutely right in how he interpreted his role in all of this.His job was to ensure that we followed policy, followed procedure and ensured procedural fairness and he made his decision accordingly and I applaud him for that,” Fowler said.

Fowler doesn’t think the pandemic will change the situation since no one knows exactly what school will look like yet.